(NSFW) Why Facebook refuses to remove video of kitten doused in gas and set on fire

Has Facebook made the right decision to continue hosting a video of a kitten being tortured?

Uproar has been stirred after Facebook told it is refusing to remove a video depicting a kitten being doused in gas and set on fire, because the footage does not breach any of its rules.

In the clip which has come to alarm many, two unidentified adolescents speaking in Spanish (presumably filmed in Mexico) can be seen torturing a kitten by stuffing it into a bucket, pouring flammable liquid over it and setting it on fire.

The kitten manages to tip the bucket over and free itself, and attempts to run away in a ball of flames.

As the cat rolls on the floor to try to extinguish the fire, more liquid is poured over it, while the men stand and watch.

One then nudges the barely moving kitten with his foot, while the other tips the rest of the liquid over the animal.

After the flames are finally put out, the camera zooms in on the helpless animal as it gasps for air, before the clip ends with the sight of a plastic bag being put over it.

More than 14,000 users have commented on the clip – many expressing their disgust – but despite complaints, Facebook has not removed the two minute film.

When user Kieran Dunwel reported the footage for containing graphic violence, he was told that Facebook had reviewed the video before ruling it did not breach the site’s ‘community standards’.

Told Dunwel via the UK’s dailymail: ‘I was going through Facebook and I saw this video,’

‘I clicked on it, watched it and I was disgusted.’

‘I reported it to Facebook, it took five or six hours for them to get back to me, and they said it was perfectly fine to have it on there.’

‘It made me feel sick, I was angry, I tried to find a phone number to speak to them but I couldn’t. I was outraged.’

‘My mum is a cat person and it would have killed her to see that,’ said Dunwel.

Adding: ‘I’m a cat person, I’ve got two cats. This is just a kitten, it must only be about five or six weeks old and it has been brutally murdered.’

After reporting the video, which was not thought to have been uploaded by either of the men seen in the film, and carries a warning message, Kieran Dunwel was told the video would not be removed.

Responded Facebook in turn: ‘Thank you for taking the time to report something that you feel may violate our Community Standards.

‘Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment.

‘We reviewed the video you reported for containing graphic violence and found it doesn’t violate our community standards.’

Reiterating further: ‘People come to Facebook to share experiences of the world around them and on occasion this may result in the sharing of content that some may find upsetting.

‘While we do not allow content that directly encourages violence, we try to create a safe environment that balances people’s desire to express themselves and in some cases condemn what they see.’

Facebook’s community standards say that graphic videos are shared on the site as a means of condemning the violence depicted, and raise awareness of instances of animal cruelty or atrocities committed worldwide.

They state: ‘Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences and raise awareness about issues important to them. Sometimes, those experiences and issues involve graphic content that is of public interest or concern, such as human rights abuses or acts of terrorism. In many instances, when people share this type of content, it is to condemn it. However, graphic images shared for sadistic effect or to celebrate or glorify violence have no place on our site.

‘When people share any content, we expect that they will share in a responsible manner. That includes choosing carefully the audience for the content. For graphic videos, people should warn their audience about the nature of the content in the video so that their audience can make an informed choice about whether to watch it.’

The commentary in Spanish and said:“Sad to see that the pain comes from the cruelty of humans. Please do not look if you are not sensitive “ .

TRENDING TODAY

John Saltex

Hi, hope this post isn’t out of place, it’s not spam! It’s a petition to get Facebook to ban any pictures or videos showing cruelty to animals. All signatures welcome, please take a second to help! Thank you!

If Facebook is going to allow videos like this in order to allow users
to protest such cruelty, I can understand that. But they should make it
accessible only after several warning boxes, at least one of which in
the language of the user, not the poster, explaining that the video is
too graphic for many and that it’s only allowed as a means of protesting
such events or in an effort to pursue the perpetrators.

PS: I
believe the two who did this should be executed, but in a far more
humane way than what happened to this kitten. I’ve always argued that
capital punishment should be a means for a humane society to exterminate
criminals, more to prevent them from breeding that for punishment.
Departing from such a position in response to an emotional trigger like
this would just give credence to the claim by death penalty opponents
that executions are “nothing more than vengeance”. We need far more
executions in this world; punishing people is almost useless if you are
getting rid of them anyway.

Tanooki

Those two deserve to be put in an extra large dunk tank, have a bucket of gasoline thrown on them and a match thrown in. You don’t set a kitten on fire for fun.

kookykev312

censorship is censorship!I mean we need to know about these sick f***s.

kevinkarstens

I want these ‘people’ that did this horrific thing to this innocent baby DEAD.

They NEED to be set on fire, as they set this animal on fire, as other look on and LAUGH. Reap what they sow.

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I think the idea to start “Scallywag and Vagabond.” (SCV) originates from my myriad background and the many years I have spent in preferred cafes and brasseries extolling the virtues and subtle intricacies of ‘being’ as the Beaujolais ran, the cigarette wafted and the gentleman to my side pontificated while spraying himself with a deftly tied cravat and sun crested idolatry.’

I grew up in Australia where as a young man one was obliged to become a hero of sorts. A master swimmer, fighter of causes, ideals and disheveled denizen of aesthetics, and more often a carefree ‘larrikin’ who would occasionally poke his sun bronzed nose at authority and convention Read More